Ron Paul: Election Shows U.S. 'Far Gone'

The Washington Times ^ | 11-9-2012 | By Stephen Dinan

[blam]

Ron Paul: Election Shows U.S. 'Far Gone'

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
November 8, 2012, 11:56AM

Rep. Ron Paul, whose maverick presidential bids shook the GOP, said in the wake of this week's elections that the country has already veered over the fiscal cliff and he sees no chance of righting ship in a country where too many people are dependent on government.

"We're so far gone. We're over the cliff," the Texas Republican told Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop" program. "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5-10 years who will do wise things." The video can be seen at http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ron-paul-on-fiscal-cliff-and-vows-to-compromise-MYkAiqYBTaiHwXZL9Tvxkw.html.

Mr. Paul, who is retiring after 12 terms in the House, said voters on Tuesday rejected Mitt Romney because he had opposed the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

"The people in the Midwest voted against him: 'Oh, we have to be taken care of!' So that vote was sort of like what we are laughing at in Greece," Mr. Paul said.

"People do not want anything cut," he said. "They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing the money. And they don't believe that we've gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff. They think we can patch it over, that we can somehow come up with some magic solution. But you can't have a budgetary solution if you don't change what the role of government should be. As long as you think we have to police the world and run this welfare state, all we are going to argue about is who will get the loot."

[LMAO]

You said...
“Having once lost my FR posting privileges for speaking out in support of Ron Paul, I caution members of this august forum against making the same mistake. Just because it’s “Free Republic,” I am pleased to have been taught, doesn’t mean conservatives are free to say anything they want on the subject of freedom and our republic. There are limits, and rightfully so, especially for “PaulBots” and other idiot pro-life isolationist constitutionalist wacko trolls, the likes of which I once, admittedly, was. A good jolt from the Viking Kitties has taught me that freedom has its limits, and after all, the very success of our beloved GOP and its leaders is a result of measured compromise, calculated bipartisanship, common-sense moderation, and dare I say, submission”

Good post.

[Wallace T.]

The numbers don't support the libertarian vote throwing the election to Obama. Nationwide, Obama won by 2.6 million votes. The Libertarian Presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, won 1.2 million votes. In all but one of the swing states, Obama's victory margin exceeded the combined third party vote. The exception is Florida, but the third party count included the Green Party Presidential candidate, Jill Stein, whose voters would have either sat out the election or reluctantly voted for Obama.

It is possible some libertarian minded people did not vote, but voter turnout for both Obama and Romney were down from the 2008 numbers.

Additionally, conservative sour grapes toward libertarians or the Christian right will not encourage members of either camp to reconcile with mainstream conservatism. Ron Paul is naive regarding foreign policy and has associated with conspiracists in his career and the more religiously oriented statements of Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann, and the GOP senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana alienated large numbers of voters, especially women. The age of Reagan may be over, but his Eleventh Commandment needs to be resurrected. The carrot works better than the stick.

[mulder1]

I believe we are going to see what would have happened to the U.S. if Jimmy Carter was reelected. THEY SHOULD HAVE WATCHED 2016!!

[mancini]

He touches on one of the things we need most and are sorely lacking in: WISDOM. Our culture doesn’t seek wisdom. It seeks self-gratification. And that right there is one of the clearest indicators that this whole thing is going to start wrapping up.

[listenhillary]

In Fiscal Year 2011, the federal government collected $2.303 trillion in tax revenue. Interest on the debt that year totaled $454.4 billion, and mandatory spending totaled $2,025 billion. In sum, mandatory spending plus debt interest totaled $2.479 trillion… exceeding total revenue by $176.4 billion.

For Fiscal Year 2012 which just ended 37 days ago, that shortfall increased 43% to $251.8 billion.

In other words, they could cut the entirety of the Federal Government’s discretionary budget– no more military, SEC, FBI, EPA, TSA, DHS, IRS, etc.– and they would still be in the hole by a quarter of a trillion dollars.

The US government is legally bound to spend more money on mandatory entitlements and interest than it can raise in tax revenue. It won’t make a difference how high they raise taxes, or even if they cut everything else that remains in government as we know it.

~~ Simon Black sovereignman dot com

[bravedog]

Ron Paul is not a Republican, he is a Libertarian.

Actually, Ron Paul is pro-life, a devout Christian, voted against all bailouts, and wants to massively cut all of the liberal social programs. The reason you all shoot him down is two fold:

1. He thinks states should handle all social issues, exactly as James Madison intended and as is clarified in the 10th amendment. Sorry to tell you, but this means that States get to decide things like gay marriage, marijuana, and health care.

2. He thinks that the President needs Congressional approval to attack any country, as required in the Constitution.

Just how angry were you when the UN wanted to come and monitor elections? Imagine if China sent a whole army to ensure a "fair" election? How would you feel? Do you think the other countries like us being on their soil?

Just because he believes that states get to decide their own fate makes him a Libertarian? I think not. I think that he is a Constitutional Conservative, whereas most of the people here are conservatives who believe that in order to "save our country", we need to overlook a few key issues in our Constitution.

You can't have it both ways. You are either for the Constitution or against it. States have the right to do stupid things, or great things. The feds need to stay out it it. It's a Constitution thing.

So they way I see it, I am a conservative, Ron Paul is a conservative, and you are a conservative. The difference is whether or not you think it is necessary to force people in liberal states to believe the same thing you do.

I think that is a losing battle and why people vote against Republicans. They think Republicans are trying to control what they do in the bedroom.

The big deal here, though, is that the greatest threat to our existence as a nation is our currency. It's not Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or Iran... and you won't be able to afford any of that anyway once the currency is gone.

Losing focus of the most important issue has already doomed this country. It's not a big deal... when there is no money for anything then the system will correct itself. But it's going to hurt like heck.

[bravedog]

It is possible some libertarian minded people did not vote, but voter turnout for both Obama and Romney were down from the 2008 numbers.

This is precisely why Romney lost. No one was enthusiastic about him, so no one came out to vote. Why the GOPe put McCain 2.0 (aka Romney) up against Obama makes no sense to me.

[Bikkuri]

[Sopater]

But you can't have a budgetary solution if you don't change what the role of government should be.

You mean "change the role of government back to what it really is".

[Sopater]

...his popularity with (especially younger voters) is they sense he’s as close to the truth, and real change, in politics as you’re going to get.

No one should be more affraid of the "fiscal cliff" than the younger generation.

[Sopater]

Third party voters did much to screw good men like Romney and Allen West on Tuesday... I don’t know what they thought they were doing but now we are all screwed because of it.

An emotional statement entirely devoid of the facts.

[Sopater]

Having once lost my FR posting privileges for speaking out... I am pleased to have been taught...

That is one of the saddest posts I have ever read here on FR.

[Sopater]

You’ve got to think tactically.

Sound advice.

[LambSlave]

How’s food in the re-education camps? :-)

[Dudoight]

Hey...I am Libertarian, too! I am a constitutional conservative. I voted for libertartian candidates where ever I could but voted Romney as a vote for Johnson would be wasted. And my vote was really against Obama. I like Ron Paul and he is a libertarian.

[jpsb]

"I like Ron Paul and he is a libertarian."

Ron Paul is not a libertarian, he is a constitutional conservative. He got tossed out of the LP for NOT being a libertarian! He is for a small constitutional federal government and letting states decide social issues. Just like out Constitution says it should.

[Sopater]

I think that he is a Constitutional Conservative, whereas most of the people here are conservatives who believe that in order to "save our country", we need to overlook a few key issues in our Constitution.

Bingo to that and to everything else you just said.

The liberty that the Constitution is supposed to protect is liberty from Federal Gov't intrusion in our lives.

[golux]

How's food? I have never been happier in my life! Today I was explaining to my four-year-old about how we were once enslaved by fat capitalists, but now everything is better. As he reached for a crust of bread on his sister's plate I chided him gently, then corrected myself when I realized that every ounce of food must be for the common good. And then that little fighter stuck me in the eye with a fork! They sure are peppy little fellas. Thank goodness nothing in history points to starvation as a cause of federal centralization. Can you believe we lived without a leader like Barack Hussein? Aren't you sick of the free market? I am. And you know what all these "red" counties have that the more deserving counties don't have? Food. So honestly: shouldn't the real Americans control price and availability???

[golux]

Well said, jpsb. And Artcore, as a fairly religious Jew, deeply familiar and friendly with Israel, I do not believe that Paul is an "antisemite." He is what I'd call a Washingtonian, or a Jeffersonian even: an egalitarian racially and religiously (for better or for worse) who cannot see the constitutional logic in ANY blank check to ANY foreign nation. Is that so ridiculous a concept? It was forged in Philadelphia, and it makes good sense to me.

I have never seen how conservative constitutionalism needed to be re-invented. We preserve Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. This is an American idea, the light of the world, and it is the cherished heritage of our citizens.

[fortheDeclaration]

The Romney campaign refused to embrace the Liberatarian and Evangelical wings of the Party.

Romney lost due in part to the overwhelming youth vote against him.

Ron Paul's view on a return to Constitutional Government was the only candidate who excited young people.

Gary Johnson, a two-time Gov. of NM was frozen out of the debates and so ran as a Libertarian.

The GOP wants to be the manager Party of the welfare State, no one is going to get excited about that.

What does the GOP actually stand for, does anyone know or care?